Over the past week, since the Senate Intelligence report on the use of torture to detainees in the custody of US officials and agencies, I have had many conversations with those defending the acts of torture on the basis of self defense. What these people claim is that in self defense the act of torture is justifiable, this is a wrong idea of self defense and I will show why.
In a case of true self defense when a threat to life or property presents itself as clear and present danger (one cannot say a threat made from someone hundreds or thousands of miles away to be a clear and present danger if the means to carry out the threat are not present), one has a choice to act to protect that life or property or to not act at all. Far from being a pacifistic, the use of defensive force is approved under the Non Aggression Principle (NAP) I and many others live our lives by. But the torture of another human being is not and should not be a means of force under anyone's code of conduct. When one tortures another it is usually done to an incapacitated or imprisoned individual. Being incapacitated or imprisoned, a captive, would negate a threat being clear or present. Now this being established that the threat has been neutralized, confined, dealt with or captive the further abuse of this person would be an aggression against them.
Anything past stopping the threat is the pursuit of justice or retribution and not defense in itself.
Justifying the use of torture by self defense is against the basis of the Non Aggression Principle, but we all know not every can or will live their lives in accordance to this axiom.
There are other justifications for torture being made. Let's take a quick look at them as well
Another justification that is being tried is the "I would rather" explination.
In this scenario the supporter of the means of torture will say "well I would rather be tortured than killed" but does that make the act moral at all? Let's see. I can say "I would rather be raped than killed" yet this doesn't justify raping me does it? I can say "I would rather be stabbed than set on fire" does that make stabbing be moral? Not at all, it does not make an immoral act moral just because you or anyone else would rather have one over the other.
There is also the "what if someone you loved were being held captive and you had the kidnapper, would you torture them to help your loved one?"
This one employs emotional attachment to a person in place of morals or principle and many people thus fail at explaining it well. Emotionally, people would react in different ways under this scenario so it is hard to give a generalized definitive answer. My own personal answer is there is no justification for the use of torture, no reason or result makes it moral, no excuse makes it right and no amount of social acceptance makes it humane.
It has been phrased that it would be "morally imperative" to act to save your loved one and I would agree, but this action does not need to be a torturous act. Questions does come to mind with this scenario as well. Would you stand by as your loved one is tortured for information they may or may not have and would you stand by as your loved one tortured another for the same? Would that make it "Morally Imperative" to stop torture? Neither of these exonerate the act or somehow turn this immoral act into a moral or just one.
One more to tackle is the "retaliation for evil" justification.
In some conversations I have had I have encountered this line. "We should do whatever those would be fine doing to us."
This line is one that I think brings the most brutality of society to light. Doing an act that is wrong in response for another wrong does not make it right, it just continues the cycle of wrong. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
It is simply a way to divert the weight of the wrong to the first aggression rather than handle it in a more humane or moral way.
"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind"
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